Jarden Wargrave
Lord Jarden Wargrave, popularly called the Red Panther, is a major character in the second, third, fourth and fifth seasons, while initially appearing as a recurring character in the first season, debuting in A Golden Crown. He is played by starring cast member Jason Isaac. Jarden Wargrave is the head of House Wargrave, Lord Paramount of the Bluelands, Warden of the Mark and Lord of Bluegard, soon the Lord Commander of the Blue Army during the War of the Five Kings. He is theson of Lord Kevan and Lady Katrina Wargrave, the elder brother of Kaitlyn and Davina Wargrave and the father of Jason, Fiona and Jeyne Wargrave. Appearance and Personality Jarden is extremely tall and very strong, flat-stomached, with lean muscular arms, bronze skin and with a constant presence of powr and authority. He has short, smooth wine-red hair that he keeps in a widow's peak, and hard blue eyes that never seem to reflect his moods, unlike most of his family. He normally wears a maroon doublet, black sleeves and a pale red cloak pinned to his collar with gold discs. Robert Baratheon noted that Jarden had a stare that would have melted the armour of Rhaegar Targaryen if they ever met on the battlefield, and Tywin Lannister remembers that Jarden looked like the sort of lord he'd hoped Jaime would become. Jarden is a staunch and unpredictable commander of men, a born strategist, with a keen, unparalleled understanding and handling of battle tactics and warfare which he sharpened over fighting in three separate wars. As a result of being on the front line during his early war career, he became confident that he would never take the front line again after the Battle of the Trident. Stoic and unreadable, Jarden was underestimated by his opponents because he was an old man, but in fact he was a decisive, fearsome and brilliant wartime leader who understood almost all parameters of commanding. When Petyr Baelish discusses him with Tyrion Lannister, he notes that Jarden is one of the few actual ''players ''in the 'game of thrones', because he understands the rules of the game and has singlehandedly kept his house a great one since becoming a lord. When he was young, he suffered very badly from a learning disability, which was inherited from his father's side of the family, and which his mother helped him overcome. His father cut him off and Jarden resented him for that. His two younger sisters, who all are in awe of him, remember him constantly fighting and arguing with his father, but the rare moments they were on reasonable terms were a sight to behold. For the rest of his life, Jarden would always remember the conflict that existed between him and his father, and always had an ambivalent attitude of resentment and respect for Lord Kevan. As a result of the treatment his father gave him, Jarden was motivated to nurse both his sisters and children through the disability, which caused them to have an exceptional amount of respect for him. History Background Jarden is the head of House Wargrave, the Lord Paramount of the Bluelands, Warden of the Mark and Lord of Bluegard. He is apparently the most formidable military strategist in all of Westeros, despite only having three wars of experience. His father, Lord Kevan Wargrave, and mother, Lady Katrina Wargrave conceived him the night before their wedding night secretly, and when he was born in advance to what was normally expected people suspected that it was a sign from the gods. When he was born, much like his father, Jarden grew long red hair and his eyes a hard blue. However, Kevan quickly opted to discard Jarden from his life when it became clear that Jarden suffered from a hereditary learning disability that prevented him from processing words and calculations properly. Remembering his own horrible experience with the disability, Kevan made no attempts at sympathy for his son, which quickly spawned a powerful dislike from Jarden that would last the whole time they were together. However, Jarden was aided through this learning disability by his mother Katrina, and learned to read properly by the time he was six years old. He had hoped that this would impress or sate his father, but it never did. When he was nine years old he had a sister Kaitlyn, and a year later another one named Davina, and they both developed the same disability as him. Even though his mother opted to do so, Jarden took it upon himself to teach them to read and write and nurse them through the disability. As a result, both sisters developed huge amounts of respect for him. That being said, this respect was matched by both sisters remembering Jarden and his father ferociously arguing all the time over something or other, except in the presence of honoured guests where they resorted to veiled barbs at one another. There were precious few moments where they maintained even grounds of respect, which Katrina developed a fond memory for because it was like a great war had come to an end. When he was eighteen, he met Sofina Tully, the sister of Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun, and fell in love with her. They were married in 255 AC, within six weeks of knowing one another by their parents, his father hoping that Jarden would be less likely to shame himself if he had a wife to keep him on a leash. During the lavish marriage ceremony, Brynden Tully claimed that he had never seen his sister look any happier than she was sitting with him. They consummated the marriage, but didn't have children for several years. Soon, they had three children, chronologically Jason, Fiona and Jeyne Wargrave. Jason was born in 266 AC, Fiona in 270 AC and Jeyne in 272 AC. When their children displayed the same learning disability as their father, as he knew they inevitably would, Jarden personally taught them to read and write rigorously for five hours a day. They, much like their aunts, developed supreme admiration for their father. It embittered Kevan, according to Sofina, to see his son surpass him in 'a game he refused to play' not once, but five seperate times. Jarden participated as a front-line warrior during the War of the Ninepenny Kings, fighting alongside House Lannister against the last of the Blackfyre Pretenders. Although his physical strength made him a formidable warrior, he strongly preferred strategising battles as opposed to being in the true thick of them. He found that he better understood logistics of warfare - even his father had to admit that he was brilliant, but he wouldn't outwardly accept this. Tywin Lannister met Jarden on the battlefield, where the two of them discussed strategy together all the time. Together, the heirs to Bluegard and Casterly Rock proved to be fearsome strategists together and Jarden became surprisingly good friends with the young lion. At the end of the War of the Ninepenny Kings, Jarden was injured when he was unhorsed by Maelys I Blackfyre, moments before the latter fought and fell against Ser Barristan Selmy. While Jarden recovered, his father lied that he was the one who was injured and that he had recovered, trying to omit any credit for his son. Later on, Jarden fought during Robert's Rebellion, originally intending to fight for the Targaryens - in fact, his father insisted that they fight on the side of the royalists. However, when Jarden suggested otherwise he overruled his father democratically and they sided with Robert Baratheon of Storm's End. The Tyrells, who had previously kept a one-sided alliance with the Wargraves, were enraged and attacked the Bluelands: During the Battle of the Crystal Forest, Jarden strategically overpowered Mace Tyrell by routing the Tyrell army into a gorge and then firing down on them with arrows. The Tyrells tried to take a cave into Bluegard itself, but it turned out to be a blocked underwater spring from a waterfall - he had the waterfall unblocked and thus the cave was flooded, ending the Siege of Bluegard before it even began. This strategic ferocity earned Jarden the nickname 'the Red Panther', since the panther was the sigil of his house. With the Tyrells pushed back, Jarden fought as a strategist at Summerhall, the Battle of the Bells and later fighting on the front line during the climactic Battle of the Trident. During the thick of the battle, Jarden fought and killed Jonothor Darry in single combat, losing his helmet in the duel. Later on, Jarden led the armies of Bluegard around the Green Fork and surrounding the Tyrells, before unhorsing Ser Barristan Selmy with a shield to the base of his spine. Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was killed in mortal combat with Robert Baratheon, ending the battle, and Jarden searched for his father across the Ruby Ford. He found Kevan Wargrave lying with a spear through his smashed breastplate. He returned home with his father's corpse spread across his horse, and personally carried it to the family tombs in his armour. At his funeral, Jarden gave a eulogy before the attending crowd that levelled his sisters to tears it was so heartfelt. Kaitlyn and Davina both had children - Davina married Lord Jaime Frey and had two young sons Steffon and Florian, who both married twin sisters of House Ghastley Charlise and Esme, whilst Kaitlyn married Lord Terrance Tully and had a daughter called Selyse. His wife died in 278 AC of greyscale, and he mourned for five years. His son remained pridefully unmarried, while Fiona married with Lord Harrold Holt of Greenspear, a house sworn to House Wargrave. Jeyne has remained unmarried insofar, but Jarden has consistently planned to find a suitable husband for her. He has gained a reputation for being a staunch supporter for his house, and though he and King Robert Baratheon only met once, the King honoured him for his deeds during his Rebellion, naming him the Hero of the Crystal Forest. 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